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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Wednesday was our final full day at the conference. The worship has been great, but because there are many speakers from various denominational backgrounds I have found myself questioning a few statements. While there have been obvious soteriological and theological differences, there has been one common theme or emphasis from many of the speakers. If you don’t share the gospel, no one hears the gospel.

The common saying, “Share Christ with everyone, if possible use words” appears to be a cop out. We must have real conversations with people. We must also realize that these conversations are probably going to be messy; they are probably going to make us feel uncomfortable and put us in places that we would not normally be.

When we do finally have the opportunity to share Christ with someone, we should be careful to listen. I have heard example after example of how the person being witnessed to has voiced certain concerns or problems that can easily be directed back to the gospel. It seemed to easy to be true, but for someone as talkative as myself, listening is not a strong suit.

As we made it back to the hotel yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to speak to a gentleman sitting by himself in the lobby. We were both watching baseball and he asked me where I was from. I immediately went to all of the conversations from this afternoon and just simply answered his question, and asked him the same question. He opened the door for conversation. I didn’t have to do anything but answer his question.

A few minutes later I had the opportunity to ask him if I could pray for him. He seemed uncomfortable and asked for me to pray for him and his son. I asked him what was his specific reason for asking for prayer. He responded that he just wanted to be able to provide for him. I could slowly feel the conversation shift to something that would be a very easy gospel presentation, and all I had to do was listen.

Eventually my friend explained that he felt far from God, and wanted to spend more time with him. It was here! A person was literally asking for me to talk to them about God and how to grow closer to him. All I had done was listen to them and ask if I could pray for him.

Remember that God draws, we just simply act as a messenger. He tells us in Luke that if we are rejected, the people are really rejecting him. God has called us to be faithful in proclaiming the gospel. Be confident that he will draw when we are faithful to proclaim.


Blessings,

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